HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut officials said 11 permits have been issued since 2005 to state residents to own non-domestic animals, but none have been requested or issued to own a primate like the one who mauled a woman this week in Stamford.

Officials said neither the state nor municipal animal control officers know if anyone is illegally keeping a primate. Officials said people may also have crocodiles, poisonous snakes and other exotic animals.

Edward Parker of the state Department of Environmental Protection said the state has issued nine permits since 2005 to licensed wildlife rehabilitators seeking to own and care for raptors.

One was given to a licensed rehabilitator in Winsted who wanted to care for a bat. The last was for someone in Ashford who owned a three-legged box turtle.

Connecticut state law prohibits ownership of certain types of exotic animals without permits, including those in the bear and wolf families and large members of the cat family such as tigers and jaguars.

"People who possess these animals generally do not request a permit, and that is one of the problems that underscores what we have to deal with," Parker said.

Travis, a 200-pound pet chimpanzee, left his owner's friend critically injured in an attack earlier in the week.

Charla Nash was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, the site of the nation's first face transplant, after being mauled for 12 minutes by Travis.

Connecticut state law before 2003 required people to get permits to own quadrupeds, such as deer, but the language was changed that year to the broader term of "mammals" after someone asked about owning bats.

The General Assembly amended the statute in 2004 after learning about someone running a rescue group for monkeys.

That update exempted anyone from the permitting requirement if they owned a non-domestic mammal such as a primate before October 2003, as long as it weighed less than 50 pounds.

Officials at the state Department of Environmental Protection knew of Travis -- who already well exceeded 50 pounds -- from his escape in the 2003 incident. But they did not take action to enforce the permitting requirement.

"Mrs. Herold had acquired that chimp in 1995, so it was eight years later in 2003 that we first had Travis on the radar screen," said Parker. "We were not going to issue a permit under that circumstance. Issuance of a permit would not have changed what happened.